More Like This

Preview

Sexual selection refers to selection on individuals of the non-limiting sex (usually males) caused by differential access to the limiting sex (usually females). Following Julian Huxley, most people divide sexual selection into two components: intrasexual selection and intersexual selection. Intrasexual selection refers to selection caused by male-male competition, while intersexual selection refers to selection caused by female preferences. This chapter focuses on the evolution of preferences for seemingly maladaptive, exaggerated male traits. Much of the literature divides explanations for...

Sexual selection refers to selection on individuals of the non-limiting sex (usually males) caused by differential access to the limiting sex (usually females). Following Julian Huxley, most people divide sexual selection into two components: intrasexual selection and intersexual selection. Intrasexual selection refers to selection caused by male-male competition, while intersexual selection refers to selection caused by female preferences. This chapter focuses on the evolution of preferences for seemingly maladaptive, exaggerated male traits. Much of the literature divides explanations for the evolution of female preferences into three distinct categories: Fisherian runaway models, good-genes models, and sensory bias models. This chapter also presents a new set of tools to model the evolution of female preferences. It begins by considering the quantitative genetic models and then looks at Russ Lande's model of the runaway process as well as its descendants. The chapter also examines a game-theoretic model by Hanna Kokko, John McNamara, and their coworkers that provides a very clear understanding of the relationship between Fisherian models and so-called good-genes models.